ARLINGTON – Playing its first game in 10 days, the UT Arlington men's basketball team had no rust and used a massive push at the end of the 1st half to propel itself to a season-best performance as part of 70-58 win over Sam Houston Saturday inside the College Park Center.
 
True freshman Chendall Weaver netted a career-high 21 points, Kyron Gibson added 10 and four other UTA players had nine points each as the Mavericks executed at a season-high 54 percent (25-46) from the floor.
 
Trailing by three, 21-18, at the midway point of the 1st half, UTA orchestrated a brilliant 28-7 extended run to close the half and take a 46-28 lead into the locker room. The Mavs shot a blistering 59 percent (17-29) from the floor and 60 percent (6-10) from 3-point range en route to their most 1st-half points and biggest intermission lead against a Division-I opponent this season.
 
Facing a Sam Houston team ranked 21st in the mid-major poll but more importantly a WAC-best 50th in the official NCAA NET Rankings, UTA knew the Bearkats wouldn't go quietly. And the club with two of its 17 victories this year being at Oklahoma and Utah made its presence felt and crawled all the way back to within five, 63-58, with two minutes remaining.
 
But that would be as close as it would get as UTA halted the league's longest winning streak at five, and in the process gave the Mavs their second Quad 2 victory of the year (San Francisco).
 
Weaver was a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line to key his second 20-point performance of the season while also issuing four assists and securing three rebounds. Gibson closed in a double-double with eight assists to go along with three steals and a trio of rebounds.
 
While those two led the way, Montez Young Jr. – making his first start of the year – was one of the quartet with exactly nine points, while Brandon Walker, Aaron Cash and Shemar Wilson matched that total.
 
UTA came into the game having uncharacteristically allowed three-straight opponents to shoot at least 50 percent from the field (first time since 2008), but on Saturday the Mavs locked in at that end, holding Sam Houston to just 33 percent (19-58) from the floor to represent the 2nd lowest by a D-I UTA opponent this year.
 
Sam Houston came into the game ranked in the top-10 nationally in scoring margin (3rd, 17.6), 3-point percentage (4th, 39.9), turnovers forced (5th, 18.3), points allowed (7th, 58.8), turnover margin (8th, 4.9) and field goal percentage defense (10th, .390).
 
UTA laid waste to all of those, out-scoring the Bearkats by 12, holding them to 30 percent (8-27) from the 3-point line, committing just 13 turnovers, scoring 70 points, finishing even in turnovers (13-all) and connecting at 54 percent from the field.
 

BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• With the win, UTA improves to 8-15 overall and 3-7 in the WAC, while Sam Houston drops to 17-6 and 7-4.
• Gibson's eight assists were the junior transfer's 2nd most this year after a 12-helper outing against UT Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 19.
• Walker and Marion Humphrey grabbed a team-high-tying six rebounds as part of a 34-32 rebounding edge for UTA.
• Walk-on Shaysten Cornish made a pair of free throws in critical 2nd-half minutes to account for just his second, and third, career points.
• Over his last four games, Young Jr. has scored 33 points and grabbed 22 rebounds. Prior to that, he had 20 points and 29 rebounds in 15 games this season.
• UTA utilized its 10th different starting lineup of the season: Humphrey, Gibson, Weaver, Young Jr. and Walker.
• Sam Houston's 58 points are its 2nd fewest in a loss this year (51 to Oklahoma State).
• Cameron Huefner (15) and Lamar Wilkerson (12) were the lone Bearkats to reach double-digit points.

QUOTABLE
"I was so proud of the way our guys played collectively and individually – we had a real determination to defend tonight against a really good offensive team. That was the difference in the game, but I thought we played with some rhythm, pace and flow offensively in the 1st half. In the 2nd half they picked up the pressure and we got a little sloppy at times, but we were able to make the right plays at the right times."
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young

 
GAME FLOW
Sam Houston jumped out to three different seven-point leads, the last of which came at the 14-minute mark, 17-10, before UTA put together an 8-0 run in less than two minutes – capped by consecutive 3-pointers from Cash – to take its first lead of the day, 18-17.
 
The Bearkats responded with the next four points to create the aforementioned 21-18 edge before the massive run to close the period from the Mavs, which included an 8-0 surge over the final two minutes to turn a 10-point contest into an 18-point margin. UTA held the Kats to 39 percent (11-28) from the field and only committed four turnovers while assisting on 13 of its 17 makes in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Sam Houston came out of the break and recorded nine of the first 11 points of the 2nd half to trim its deficit to 11, 48-37, before Cash stopped that stretch with a 3-pointer at the 14:30 mark to make it a 51-37 contest.
 
However, the Bearkats continued to chip away and eventually made it a single-digit contest, 54-46, with under 11 minutes remaining and whittled it down to five before the Mavs were able to ice the contest – for all intents and purposes following an icy week in the North Texas – on a fastbreak dunk by Young Jr.
 
THIS AND THAT

• UTA had not played since Jan. 25 as the Mavs had their game against Tarleton this past Wednesday postponed and rescheduled to this coming Monday due to the impacts from icy precipitation that blanketed North Texas the entire week.
• This was the first meeting between old Southland Conference rivals since 2012 when the Mavs departed the league. Sam Houston is heading to Conference USA this July.
• This was the first of two matchups in 12 days between UTA and Sam Houston as the Mavs will head to Huntsville on Feb. 15. That contest is currently a Quad 1 opportunity for UTA.
• The WAC is currently ranked by KenPom as the 12th-best conference (out of 32) in the nation.

NEXT UP
UTA will host Tarleton as part of the rescheduled contest on Monday, Feb. 6, at 4 p.m. It will be the second game of a doubleheader as the Lady Mavs will also have their rescheduled game against Southern Utah tip off at 1 p.m. Both games will be free admission. FOLLOW ALONG
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